A Weekend in Gotham
by ljp
Summary: When Lois goes to Gotham to interview Bruce Wayne, things get batty.


Title: Weekend in Gotham

Author: ljp / katshakespeare lj

Rating: PG

Category: Smallville, Batman (general DCU)

Summary: When Lois goes to Gotham to interview Bruce Wayne, things get batty.

Word Count: 6,833

--

Lois Lane might not have been able to get the Blur to agree to an interview with her, but she'd be damned if she didn't land the other story of the century, the one about Bruce Wayne taking over his father's company after years of squandering much of his inheritance on sex, drugs, and rock and roll. But now he'd usurped the shareholders and bought out the majority of the company himself. Last night he'd held a press conference where he announced his plans to take over Wayne Enterprises. That same night, Lois got on a red-eye flight destined for Gotham, recorder, pen, and paper in hand.

She was exhausted by the time the taxi dropped her off about a block from her hotel. When she argued with the cabbie, he shrugged and pointed at the police barricades in the middle of the street. She paid him and climbed out, her suitcase nipping at her heels.

At the barricade, however, a uniformed Gotham PD officer blocked her path. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but this is a crime scene. I can't let you past."

"But my hotel is down there," Lois argued. "I have reservations." It was true, she did have reservations, even though she didn't know why. The Motel 6 in the seedy part of Gotham always has rooms open. That would also explain why it's a crime scene, she thought.

"I suggest you go find another hotel," the officer said.

"What's going on?"

"Can't say, ma'am. Official police investigation." He stood straight and still at the point where two of the barricades met. "If you go about two blocks west, you'll find a nice Days Inn to stay at. Always put my in-laws up there when they come into town."

Lois smiled. The officer was trying to be helpful, she knew, but she didn't want help. She could smell a story, even if it didn't have Bruce Wayne written all over it. "Can't you tell me anything, Officer—" She leaned in, batting her eyelashes, to read his name badge. "Martin?"

"Sorry, ma'am, boss's orders."

"Not even to a member of the press?" She fumbled with the side pocket of her purse and pulled out her Daily Planet press pass.

He peered at it. "You'll be wanting to talk to Lieutenant Gordon if you want a quote," he said. "Daily Planet? You're a long way from Metropolis here, Miss Lane, aren't you? Can't imagine you came just for this story. It's not worth your time, I'm afraid."

She shrugged. "I can be the judge of that. What happened?"

"Like I said, you'll have to talk to the boss."

Lois raised her eyebrows in a look that clearly meant for the officer to go ahead and get "the boss" for her, but he didn't seem to be taking the hint. "Well? Can I talk to Lieutenant Gordon then?" she asked.

"I think the lieutenant's busy, ma'am."

If there was one thing Lois knew and understood, it was that if no one's talking, there's a bigger story than they want you to think. She smiled and held up a hand in surrender. "All right, thank you, Officer. You've been very helpful."

Even though he looked a bit confused by her sudden change of tactic, he nodded.

Lois turned around and, dragging her suitcase behind her, rounded the corner onto W. 5th St. She dug her cell out of her pocket and speed dialed number one.

After four rings, he finally picked up. "Lois? Where are you? Why aren't you at work?"

"I'm in Gotham," she said. "But don't worry about that, Smallville. I need you to do me a favor."

"Lois, what are you doing in Gotham?" He sounded exasperated, but then again talking to Lois, it seemed he always sounded that way.

She sighed. "I said not to worry about that right now. Listen, I need you to do two things for me right now. I need you to find me a hotel near the main police precinct in Gotham and make me a reservation. I'll pay you back. And I need you to look up the police logs and find out what happened on the block between west fourth and west fifth along Roosevelt, okay?"

"What's all this about?" he asked.

Since she could hear him typing in the background and went with the assumption that he was doing as she asked, she answered him. "There's a Wayne Orphanages Charity Ball tonight and I'm going to be there."

"Why?"

She sighed. Was Clark really that thick? "Bruce Wayne, Clark."

"He doesn't give interviews," Clark pointed out.

Lois leaned against the brick of a building that looked like it once held a respectable business inside. A wet spot on the cement at her feet made her gag a bit and move closer to the street. "He'll give me one," she said.

"Oh, really, and how do you expect to do that?" If she didn't know Clark any better, she would almost think he was using sarcasm with her.

"I know his type, all right? So I'll put on a tight dress and push up my breasts a bit, show some leg, and he'll give in."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Lois," he said.

She shook her head. "Did I ask you if it was? No. All I said was get me a hotel and tell me what's happening in the police reports. Now, did you do that?"

Clark sighed. "Yes, Lois," he said. "You have reservations at the Marriott now, which is a block south of Wayne Towers and across the street from the Gotham first precinct."

"And?"

"And this morning, around daybreak, a well-known Gotham mob boss was found tied to the outside of the fifth floor balcony of a Motel 6. There was apparently a note, but no one's talking about what it said. They think it's the work of some kind of vigilante, but no one saw anything."

Lois pressed her lips in a thin line. "You think the Blur made it all the way to Gotham?"

Clark chuckled. "No, Lois, I don't. I mean, he may be fast but he can't be in two places at once. And this morning he was seen stopping a pile up just outside of town."

"Hmn, yes you're right. But this mob boss could have been caught any time over night, right?"

"I suppose."

"So conceivably, the Blur could have been in Gotham overnight and back in Metropolis in time for the AM rush hour."

He sighed. "Yes, Lois, that's possible, but I really don't think—"

She didn't even let him finish his sentence before she had snapped the phone closed and stuffed it back into her jacket pocket. It vibrated almost immediately, but she ignored it and stepped out into the street to hail a cab.

If there was even the smallest of chances that the Blur was working the night beat in Gotham, she'd uncover it. And get an interview with Bruce Wayne while she's at it. All in a day's work, she thought, for Lois Lane.

--

The Gotham First Precinct was a marble-stoned building wedged between two modern office buildings a few blocks from Wayne Towers. It was a quiet place, to Lois's surprise, with a pair of squad cars parked out in front.

As she waited to cross the street, Lois watched an unmarked black sedan pull up behind the squad cars. A slender, petite redhead stepped out of the car, and Lois could see the gun holstered at her hip.

In her haste to cross the street, she was almost hit by two cars, but she didn't care and hurried across to the precinct. She didn't know if she should wear her press pass, but she did know she wanted answers. She snuck in through the door on the heels of the redhead and tried to look like she belonged.

"Did we get those DNA samples back from the lab?" the redhead asked as she was handed a pile of paperwork and crossed the lobby to a back row of offices. Her heels clicked on the floor as she stopped at the coffee machine and filled a mug with her free hand.

"Yeah, boss, they're in on your desk. Any more Intel on the overgrown bat?"

The redhead laughed. "Nothing new yet, officer. Can you get me the report from the housekeeper who found Montari? I have to cross reference something."

"Already on your desk," came the answer.

"May I help you again, ma'am?"

Lois blinked and turned to find Officer Martin looking at her. "Uh, no, thank you, I'm fine."

"Well, then do you have a crime to report? Otherwise I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Miss Lane." Martin was smiling through, this time, like he was amused. He reminded her somewhat of Clark when he was teasing her.

"Any chance I can talk to Lieutenant Gordon now?" she asked.

She followed Officer Martin's gaze toward the redhead as she disappeared into an office. "Sure, if you want. Can't promise she'll answer any of your questions though. She's tough as nails, Lieutenant Gordon is." He led her to just outside the office, where he knocked on the door. "Lieutenant, there's a reporter from the Daily Planet in Metropolis who wants to talk to you."

Lois stood awkwardly just behind Officer Martin. She couldn't hide her surprise. For some reason, she had been expecting something, or someone, else besides the redhead to be Lieutenant Gordon. This woman, girl really, couldn't be much older than Lois.

The redhead—Lieutenant Gordon—looked up. "From Metropolis?" she asked. "About what?"

"I don't know." The officer stepped aside. "I'll come back and escort her out of you need me to, boss."

Lieutenant Gordon waved her hand and nodded to Lois then to the chair across the desk from her. "Please, have a seat."

Lois fished her recorder out and set her pad of paper against her knee. "Lois Lane," she said. "Daily Planet. I thought I might be able to ask you a few questions?"

She reached her hand across her desk. "Barbara Gordon," she said. "About what, exactly? What kind of business does a reporter out of Metropolis have in Gotham?"

"I'm actually here to attend the Wayne Orphanages Ball tonight," she said, and her eyes drifted to the back of the now-closed door. Hanging on it in dry cleaner's plastic was a long dark green gown. "You're going too?"

Barbara smiled. "I assume you're not interested in interviewing me about an event we haven't gone to yet."

Lois cleared her throat. "Uh, no, no. Actually this morning I was trying to get to the Motel 6 on Roosevelt but it was blocked off."

Barbara nodded. "Yes, we had a situation."

"Right," Lois said. "I know. A mob boss was found caught and tied up but still alive at the motel." She smirked a bit when it appeared that the lieutenant was surprised that she knew this. "I have my other sources too."

"Of course." She sat back. Her hair was coming loose from its tie at the back of her head, near the nape of her neck. "What about it?"

"Do you know who did it?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I have my suspicions, but I'm sure you understand, Miss Lane, that it's not something I can talk about openly to the press."

"Of course not," Lois said, shaking her head. "But the thing is, in Metropolis, we have this friend—some people call him a vigilante—who helps the police in Metropolis. We call him the Blur."

Barbara nodded. "Sure, I've heard of him. I usually check all the major world news markets on slow crime days."

"Rare in Gotham though, aren't they?"

"I don't need much sleep," the lieutenant insisted. "So yes, I've heard of this Blur character, but he's not the same as here in Gotham. My department already went through that line of assumption. But I'm afraid we have our own vigilante on our hands. I'm surprised you haven't heard of him in Metropolis yet."

"He has a name?"

She shrugged. "Some people refer to him as the Batman. They say he's dressed as a bat and can appear out of nowhere. That he likes the dark and the shadows."

"You sound like you don't believe in him," Lois said.

Barbara took a moment to answer. "Look, I don't know what to believe. But I can't say I'm happy that we have some guy who thinks he's above the law wandering around after dark taking the law into his own hands." She pursed her lips together. "And I've already said as much to reporters here at the Times so if you decide you want to write an article on that, go ahead."

Lois laughed a bit. "I don't think I'll be writing a story about the mob boss, if that's what you mean."

"Then why are you talking to me?"

"I wanted to know about the vigilante. I kind of hoped—"

"That he was your Blur?" Barbara wondered. She smiled. "I've read your call to the Blur, Miss Lane. I know about your obsession with him. We have a few here obsessed with our own."

"But you're not one of them."

She rapped her fingers against the edge of her desk. "Is that all, Miss Lane? I have work to do."

Lois was already standing. "Yes, thank you, Lieutenant."

"Barbara, please. Lieutenant Gordon was my father."

She smiled. "Barbara. I'm sure I'll see you at the charity ball then. Do you have a date?" Barbara didn't answer but her smile made Lois laugh lightly. "Thank you, again, Barbara. I appreciate the conversation."

"I hope you enjoy your stay in the city, Miss Lane. It's not so bad of a place, honestly."

Lois nodded and shoved her recorder back inside her bag. She'd recorded the entire conversation so she'd be able to listen through it again. There was something Lieutenant Gordon wasn't telling her, and she wanted to know what it was. It might not be front-page news worthy, or even worthy of a story, but Lois didn't like being left in the dark.

--

When Lois got back to the hotel, she found Clark waiting for her, pacing the lobby. She stopped short, almost getting hit in the back with the swinging revolving door. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked, loudly.

Clark turned to look at her. "Lois, where have you been?"

"When did you get here?" she asked, crossing to him.

"I've been waiting an hour. What are you doing here?"

"Why don't you go ahead and answer one of my questions first?" Lois challenged.

Clark ran a hand back through his hair. "I was worried about you. I don't really like the idea of you throwing yourself at some millionaire just for a story."

"I do have some experience with millionaires, you know," Lois countered.

He smiled weakly. "Yeah, well. Somehow I think Bruce Wayne is even worse than Ollie."

She shrugged. "So, what, you're here to baby-sit me?"

"No, I'm not. I'm here to be your date." He gestured to a black bag laid over two of the lobby lounge chairs. "Besides, I figured you didn't have either a dress or tickets, so I made sure to secure both." He pulled the charity ball invitation out of his inside coat pocket.

"Clark, I don't need—" She followed his gaze to the bag. "You bought me a dress?"

He shrugged.

"Clark!" Lois dropped her bag next to the lounge chair and opened lifted the dress bag high enough to tug the zipper down. Inside, she saw a deep scarlet dress. When she touched it, her fingers slipped across the silk. "You bought me a dress." For some reason, tears pricked at her eyes but she sucked them away quickly and turned to him. "Thank you!" she said, throwing her arms around him.

"Gee, Lois, it's not a problem at all. I, uh, can't wait to see you in it," he said sheepishly.

"I hope you brought a nice suit. I won't let you be my arm candy unless you look just as good, you know."

Clark grinned. "Don't worry, Lois, I've got it covered. There's a suit behind the dress. And this time I think I can do my own cufflinks."

She punched him in the arm.

"So, did you get a story on the mob boss?" he asked as he took the clothes from her and slung her bag over his shoulder. He nudged her toward the elevator, his fingers brushing along the small of her back.

"I got one better," she said. "I was wrong about the Blur, but Gotham definitely has its own nighttime vigilante. They call him the Batman."

"The Batman?" he repeated. "I don't know if that's more or less original than the Blur."

"Red Blue Blur," Lois correctly, poking him in the chest as soon as they turned around to face the elevator doors. She punched the button for the fifth floor. "Anyway, Lieutenant Gordon doesn't really like him much. I talked to her across the street. She says he's taking the law into his own hands."

"Isn't that what vigilantes do?"

"Sure, but she said it all with a different kind of distaste than the Metropolis PD do about the Blur. There's something more at work there."

"Maybe she just has a personal dislike for the guy, ever think of that?"

Lois shrugged. "Lieutenant Gordon isn't married," she said. "I didn't see a wedding ring. And she wouldn't confirm a date to the charity ball tonight even though I saw a dress in her office."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"It's the way things work, Smallville. Any single girl is going to be all over a mysterious vigilante," she said. "Look at me and the Blur. Look at half the city and the Blur. Or girls here in Gotham. It's common knowledge that single girls are attracted to mysterious bad boys."

Clark laughed and held the elevator for her as she stepped out. "So you're basing your entire read of this lieutenant's character on the fact that she's not attracted to a vigilante?"

"I'm just saying there's more to it," Lois said.

"And you're going to try and find out what that is."

She grinned. "Of course I am."

Clark sighed and followed her down the hall.

After she had stopped in front of her room and got out her key, she turned to him, amused. "Yeah, right, Smallville. I hope you reserved your own hotel room."

"I got two double beds, Lois," he said, putting his shoulder against the door to push it open. "Do you think you'll be okay if I'm in the bed next to you?"

"Oh please," she said, swatting at him. "As if it bothers me. I'm more concerned with you. Think your feminine sensibilities won't be corrupted if I happen out of the bathroom in just a towel?"

Even though he flushed and took a moment to answer, he still managed to say, "I think I can handle it" and followed her into the hotel room.

--

The grand ballroom at the Gotham City convention center was filled with the city's elite, rubbing shoulders with each other in designer gowns and borrowed jewels. When Lois stepped in, her elbow through Clark's, she immediately felt out of place.

"How did you get those tickets?" she whispered up at him as they skirted the edge of the ballroom in search of their table.

He raised an eyebrow. "How were you going to get in without them?" he asked.

She grimaced. "I hadn't thought that far ahead," she said.

Lois found that she couldn't look at Clark too long or her heartbeat would quicken and she'd start to feel light-headed. He looked just as good now as he had at Chloe's wedding. His suit fit him perfectly, extenuating his strong, broad shoulders and filling out tightly across his chest, giving him the look of being even larger than he is. Sometimes she forgot just how big Clark was. When she felt his whole palm pressed against the small of her back, nearly taking up the whole expanse, she couldn't help but shiver.

"Are you cold?" he asked, his breath warm against the skin under her ear.

She shivered again but managed to shake her head. "I'm fine. Can you get me a drink though?" It would be easier to find Bruce Wayne without Clark hovering over her like a watchdog. "Something bubbly?"

Clark smiled. "I'll be right back," he said.

The loss of his hand along her back cooled her. She moved along the wall, keeping an eye out for the millionaire. She'd made sure to double-check the Internet for the most recent photos, though after one or two she figured she'd be able to spot him easily. He was almost as handsome as Clark, both of them dark and larger than expected. Lois hoped Wayne didn't have a girl on each arm that night, though she figured with a cause as close to him as this should be, he wouldn't. Even Bruce Wayne couldn't be that crass.

It wasn't Bruce Wayne she spotted first. It was a swish of red hair and a flash of dark green. Lois pushed her way through the crowd to the police lieutenant. "Barbara," she said as she neared her.

As Lieutenant Gordon turned around at her name, so did her date. Lois gasped. Finding Bruce Wayne had proved, apparently, to be easy.

"Miss Lane," Barbara said. "I see you made it this evening. You'll forgive me if I had doubted you."

Lois smiled tightly and shifted her gaze to the tall man behind the lieutenant. Truthfully, she found Bruce Wayne much more handsome in person than on a computer screen. "I don't believe we've been introduced." She stuck out her hand. "Lois Lane."

"From the Daily Planet," Barbara murmured with an amused smile back to Lois. "Lois, this is Bruce Wayne, but I'm sure you already knew that."

Lois smiled tightly back at her.

"A pleasure," Bruce said in a low voice. He lifted her hand up to his mouth and brushed a kiss along the back of her knuckles. "What brings you to our city, Miss Lane?"

It was impossible not to notice the way Bruce so casually slid his arm around Barbara, as if he'd been doing it for a while now. And she didn't tense up the way someone not used to the possessive action would. Lois smiled gently. "I was actually hoping to speak with you," she said to Bruce.

"Ah, I see. Well, unfortunately I don't give interviews," he said.

She frowned but only momentarily. "I know that. But I was hoping—"

"I'm sorry. You understand, don't you?"

Before Lois could make another argument, someone had caught Bruce's eye and he turned and smiled that millionaire's smile and gave a way. "Babs, there's someone I'd like to introduce you to. Excuse us, Miss Lane." He ushered Barbara away, his hand against her completely bare back.

Lois frowned.

"Couldn't find you for a moment, Lois," Clark was saying as he walked around her. He handed her a long-stemmed champagne flute and tapped his against hers. "Cheers," he said then took a sip. "Who was that you were talking to?"

"Bruce Wayne and Lieutenant Barbara Gordon," she said.

"Did you get your interview then?" he asked, his eyes twinkling.

Her frown deepened and she downed her champagne in one quick gulp. "Shut up, Smallville. I don't want to hear any 'I told you so's." She leaned against him.

"What did you want to ask him?" he wondered.

"Anything," was her answer.

Lois let her gaze wander to where Bruce and Barbara had moved off to. They were talking to the young man Lois recognized as Harvey Dent, a candidate for the city DA position this upcoming term. She scoffed a bit, knowing better than thinking that Barbara Gordon didn't already know Dent. The brush-off from Wayne did nothing but make her even more determined.

--

"Lois, I think you've had enough," Clark said, plucking the fifth champagne flute from her fingers. "You know what happened the last time you drank too much."

"Which time?" she countered. She had her eyes fixed on Bruce Wayne and the police lieutenant. "Do me a favor, will you, Smallville?"

He groaned. "This can only end badly," he muttered.

She poked him hard against the chest and got up in his personal space. "You don't even know what the favor is yet," she said.

"I'm sure I'll accept no matter what it is, and I'm sure it won't end well. Okay, Lois, what can I do for you?"

"Go ask Lieutenant Gordon to dance," she said.

"Oh, I don't think Bruce Wayne would like that very much, Lois," Clark said. He stepped away from her and shook his head.

She rolled her eyes. "And what do you think he's going to do? Ask you to step outside so you can fight like kids on a playground or a bar fight? C'mon, she's a beautiful woman and he doesn't lay claim." But even as she said it, she noticed the murderous look Bruce sent in the direction of some young blond guy who was noticeably checking out some of Lieutenant Gordon's better assets. She frowned.

"I don't think so, Lois."

She sighed. "Look, Clark, I will talk to Bruce Wayne, and I will get my interview, but you've got to lend a hand here. So go ask the good lieutenant to dance so I can make a move on her boyfriend."

"Looks like I won't have to," he said. He nodded in the direction of the couple.

She spied Bruce brush his lips across Barbara's cheek then disappear behind a curtain and out of the ballroom. Without another word, Lois was making a beeline in the same direction. Once outside of the ballroom, however, she found that she had already lost Bruce. Frowning, she looked both ways down the hallway then tried the door directly across, but it was locked.

Lois returned to the ballroom just in time for the excitement to begin.

"Lois, get behind me," Clark said in an urgent, cautious tone. He grabbed her by the elbow and tugged her against his back.

She stumbled. "Oof, Clark, get off me. What's going on?"

He shushed her.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of Gotham City, welcome, welcome. I assure you that you will remain unharmed so long as I get what I want." The voice was a cackle yet methodical, as if each word was carefully selected before being spoken.

Lois couldn't see around Clark, who had backed her against the wall, standing with his arms crossed in such a pose of authority that Lois would laugh if she couldn't feel that the mood in the ballroom hadn't turned sour almost instantaneously.

"Clark," she hissed.

He waved his hand back at her.

"This is ridiculous," she mumbled, dropping to her knees and crawling on her hands and knees away from him. By the time she saw him spin around and make a grab for her, she has squeezed past the legs of some Gothamites.

"Now, if you'll please hand over your jewels, yes, yes just pass those bags around and slip your diamonds, your rubies, your pearls inside. That's it."

Lois surfaced about a dozen people away from Clark with a clear view of the center of the room where a clown-faced man was waving a large gun in the air as if it were a flag. His face was painted white and his hair dyed a sickly green color. His suit, purple velour it looked like, was a size too big for him.

She saw Lieutenant Gordon step out from the crowd and tried to figure out if the police officer had room under her skintight gown for a handgun. She held her breath.

"What do you want, Joker?" Barbara asked.

It was like a switch flicked in the back of Lois's mind. She'd done a fair bit of Googling while Clark was hogging the shower, and in addition to Gotham's very own vigilante, it also seemed to have its own fair share of wacko meteor-freak-types. This Joker must be one of them.

"Fair's fair, Lieutenant," Joker said, snatching one of the bags the Gothamites were dropping jewelry into and shoving it in her face. "The necklace and the ring, if you please."

Barbara stood her ground. "I don't please," she said.

He pointed the gun at her. "Bet you don't have room under that little dress of yours to be armed, hmn, Lieutenant?"

Her face paled, just enough to be noticed.

Lois whipped her head toward Clark but found that he wasn't where she'd left him. A quick survey of the room and she couldn't see him anywhere. As a bag passed in front of her, she didn't slip anything inside, as she had nothing to contribute. But, she noticed, the rest of the room was doing as told.

"Your diamonds," Joker said again.

Barbara removed her necklace and dropped it into the bag.

"And the ring."

"No," she said.

Lois dropped her gaze, spying a rather large diamond and—was that sapphire?—on her hand that hadn't been there that afternoon at the precinct. Hell, that could be a good enough story, Lois thought, if she could prove it. Lieutenant Barbara Gordon and self-declared bachelor millionaire Bruce Wayne.

But the party's interruption might turn out to be story enough. If they survived, of course.

"Is it too special to part with?" he asked. He trained the gun at her forehead then, in a sudden movement, grabbed her by the back of the neck and jerked her toward him. He twisted the gun against her temple.

Barbara, it seemed, wisely chose not to struggle.

"Look, good people of Gotham, even your police lieutenant knows how to play nicely." He laughed, a sick-sounding chuckle that sent a shudder up Lois's spine. "You there," he said, and it took a moment for Lois to realize her was looking at her. "Come here."

"Leave them alone, Joker. I'm the one you want." The voice came from somewhere in the crowd. Everyone turned in search of it at the same time, that deep hoarse rumbled.

Lois heard the words "the Batman" murmured by several people. A moment later, a man stepped from the crowd and a gasp rose up. Sure enough, the man was dressed as a bat, all in black with a bat-shaped cowl, complete with cape. Lois froze in her spot.

Even the Joker turned toward the Batman, but he didn't let go of the lieutenant. "Ah, what have we here?" he asked. "The Batman came out to play?"

"Let her go," he said.

Lois wasn't sure where to look. She started with Barbara, who's expression softened the moment the Batman spoke. She didn't look as scared anymore, though she hadn't exactly looked terrified before, more simply nervous. Lois supposed she didn't get to be a lieutenant in the police force by being scared. But now, with the Batman out, she was, almost, calm. Lois noticed she didn't take her eyes off of him.

Likewise the Batman, at first. They were having a silent conversation, Lois realized. It was like she'd suspected: Barbara's tirade against the actions of the Batman was hiding deeper feelings. Or, at least, an approval that she couldn't express as a member of the police force.

Unless—

Lois shook the thought away. It was too much of a leap.

"It's all very simple, really," Joker said. "If the good lieutenant hands over her ring, I let her go. Otherwise, she gets a bullet in her pretty little head."

Lois felt slightly sick. Just give it to him, she wanted to say, how important could it be? But for once in her life, Lois kept her big mouth shut. And where, exactly, was Clark? She still couldn't see him anywhere in the ballroom.

The Batman stopped walking forward. He looked at Barbara for a moment, only the whites of his eyes visible to Lois. Lieutenant Gordon, just barely, nodded. Lois was suddenly very certain her suspicions were well founded, and she held her breath. Everyone in the ballroom held his or her breath.

Just when Lois thought the Batman was going to take the chance to lunge for the gun, a wind swept through the room and a blur of black sent the gun to the floor and the Joker onto his back. The Batman used the distraction to cuff the Joker, pushing him hard onto the floor. He was talking, but the gasps and murmurs from the crowd drowned out his words.

Lieutenant Gordon picked up the gun and pointed it at the Joker.

The next few seconds happened so fast. The Joker's goons were rounded up and cuffed, and Officer Martin appeared to doll out everyone's jewelry.

Lois didn't stick around to watch. Her heart pounding, she hurried from the ballroom, calling out in a gasp. "I know you're here," she cried out. The sounds from the ballroom were muffled in her eyes as all she could hear was her heartbeat and her breathing.

The Blur was here. The Blur was in Gotham. He'd just saved them all.

"Please, I want to talk to you!"

She turned in a circle but still found the hallway empty, the noise in the ballroom slowly starting to come back to her, as her breathing slowed and she calmed down. It was instinct, she realized, and attraction and need and desire—all those came together to make it impossible for her not to cry out to the Blur.

And the moment Clark Kent stepped out from the previously locked door next to her, Lois knew. She knew it more certainly than she suspected that Bruce Wayne was beneath the Batman's cowl, more certainly than the suspected that the millionaire and police lieutenant were more than just casual dates for the evening. This, Lois knew.

"Clark!" she gasped, throwing her arms around him. She clung to him, letting all her emotions from the night fall away as she started to sob against him. "You're okay," she said. "You're okay. Everything's okay."

She felt Clark's hand settle on the back of her head, his fingers threading into her hair, and she felt safe.

--

Lois didn't remember getting back to the hotel. But she woke up, feeling refreshed, just as the sun rose. Sitting up and stretching, Lois turned to find Clark on the other bed, watching her. "Morning, Smallville," she said.

He smiled lopsidedly at her. "How are you feeling, Lois? You had quite a lot to drink last night. What happened?"

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure, but there was a lot of excitement in the ballroom. I found you in the hallway after the whole thing and you kept rambling about seeing the Blur and how he saved everyone. I hate to say it, Lois, but I think you were pretty drunk. The Batman showed up and took out the Joker, not the Blur."

She shook her head. "No," she said. "I remember everything. It was you."

"Me?" he asked, his voice a half-octave higher. "What do you mean? What was me?"

She slid off the bed to stand in front of him. "You're the Blur. I can't believe I never saw it before."

"Lois, how much did you have to drink last night?" he asked, looking at her sternly and, if Lois's suspicions were correct, a bit nervously.

"Stop it with the lies, Smallville, I'm not as stupid as you must think I am. You just happened to show up in Gotham and then you just happened to disappear right before the excitement started and then the Blur just happened to save the day. Too many coincidences for you to weasel your way out of."

"Lois, the Batman saved the day."

She nearly growled. "The Batman was too worried about his girlfriend getting her brains blown out to save anyone. Then out of nowhere, the gun's on the floor and the Joker's on his back. No one else besides the Blur moves as fast as that. And I watched. The Batman didn't move an inch. So try all you might to make excuses, but I'm not backing down on this. You. Are. The. Blur."

For a moment, she thought he was going to deny it again. So it was to her surprise that he instead he sighed and wiped a hand across his forehead. "Look, Lois, I—"

"You don't have to explain yourself, Smallville," she said, suddenly feeling bad for pushing him so hard.

"I don't?"

She smiled and laid a hand against his chest. She could feel his heart pulsing beneath a rock-solid chest. Why had she never noticed how fit he was? "What else can you do?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I know you're fast," she said. Everyone knew the blur was fast enough to be, well, a blur. "But what else?"

Clark hesitated.

"Your secret's safe with me, Smallville," she whispered. "I could never expose you, just like I'll never expose Bruce Wayne."

"What about Bruce?" he asked, looking at her with an odd expression.

She rolled her eyes. "He was the obvious one," she said. "He's the Batman."

"How do you figure that?"

"If you hadn't been too busy pulling a disappearing act, you might have noticed that the Batman couldn't take his eyes off Barbara Gordon the same way Bruce Wayne couldn't. And that he was almost willing to do nothing if it meant she'd live. Only a man in love will do that. So, Bruce Wayne and the Batman are one and the same."

Clark nodded slowly. "I see," but it was obvious that he didn't.

"Don't worry about it. All that matters is that I'm right," she said proudly.

"I know you are."

"You do?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I saw him. Under the cowl."

"How?"

A flush spread across his face. "One of my abilities is x-ray vision," he admitted. "One of the first things I did was scan the ballroom, and I saw who was beneath the mask. Then I spoke with him about it after it was all over."

"What did you do to me?" she asked.

"When?"

"I remember throwing myself at you in the hallway but then it's a blank."

He chuckled and lowered his gaze from hers for a moment. "You fainted," he said. "So I brought you back here and put you to bed."

She didn't believe him, not for a moment. "I do not faint."

He shrugged. "Well, you did! I don't know if it was from the excitement in the ballroom or how many glasses of champagne you had, but you passed out right in my arms. You were in an out for a while, muttering incoherencies about the Blur and me and now I see why. You'd figured it out."

Lois smiled. "Yeah, yeah I did figure it out. Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's not something I just tell people," he said.

"Who knows?" she asked. She could tell by the way he looked away from her that he didn't want to answer her. "No lies," she said. "Not anymore."

He took a deep breath. "My mother, obviously," he said. "And Chloe knows. Oliver knows. Lana knows."

"So in other words, everyone besides Lois." It hurt, more than she cared to admit. But she just shrugged and brushed it off. "Right, it's fine. I understand."

"No, you don't," he argued.

"No, Clark, really I do. I'm just Lois. I'm no one special. I'm not like Chloe, who's been your friend for how long. Or Oliver, who has a penchant for playing hero just like you do. Or even like Lana, the love of your life."

Clark frowned and shook his head. "Lois, no."

She held up her hand. "I said it's fine, Clark. I don't want to hear any excuses or 'for your protection' crap, okay? I know now. I'm glad I know now."

"This changes things, doesn't it?" he asked after a moment.

Lois looked at him. "What changed?" she asked.

He shrugged. "It didn't change things?"

"I don't know. I guess—I guess now I just know how and why you disappear all the time and that your hero complex actually has merit. But you're still you, aren't you? I mean, just because you have some meteor freak abilities doesn't change who you are, Clark Kent."

He reached for her hand. "I'm not a meteor freak," he said, and just as she was about to apologize for using such a non-PC term, he stopped her.

And then he told her everything.

--

End.


End file.
